Pilgrim One: Prominence (Project Pilgrim Book 1)

by Christopher R. Marrs

  Narmer was caught by surprise, “Me?! What do I know about doing that? Besides, everyone knows that I came up with you. Both Deides and I.”

  “Yes, but anyone that knows that about you and Deides also knows that you came along under suspicion. And still are officially. Perfect disaffected candidate,” Jegit explained.

  “Besides, all you really have to do is be rem bait; we’ll be watching you at all times. Come with me; I’ll get you trained on some basics. Communications and emergency situations. You’ll be ready by the setmeal.”

  “Great, I’m the bait. I’m not sure about this. And what about Deides?” Narmer asked while getting a little pale; he knew it was going to happen.

  “Give her a call and have her meet us. But don’t tell her anything until I get a chance to talk to her first.”

  “This is not going to go over well with her…”

  Narmer thumbed is p-tab and initiated a vid con with Deides. He waited until he got the recorded message and then closed the call.

  “She’s not picking up. She was a bit upset this morning because I left her for the meeting.”

  “OK, let’s get you started, we have a couple of chirps until midrise, we can get some things accomplished, and we’ll try to track her down in the meantime.”

  Jegit got up to leave, grabbing his tray. Narmer got up to follow.

  “See you around, I guess,” he said to Marda as he followed Jegit out towards the entrance. Dumping his tray in the recycler, he hurried to catch up with Jegit.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  Jegit worked with Narmer the entire rise. Getting him proficient in using the internal comms as well as the hidden personal comms that he’d be wearing from now on. They had made repeated attempts to contact Deides but to no avail.

  “I’m getting concerned about Deides,” Narmer said, after the twenty-something attempt to get a hold of her.

  “I’ll see what I can find out about her. She’s not showing up anywhere on our surveillance systems either. I’ll stay on it.”

  “Your training is now complete. I’ve given you all that I can give you in one training session. It’ll get you through what we need done. Just remember, you are not to confront or intervene anyone we are targeting. Your sole option is to run away. Are we clear?” Jegit stressed.

  “I think that I can follow that directive.”

  “It is time for the setmeal. Eat, then get back to your quarters until you hear from me. Do not talk about this to anyone, that’s the fastest way to be discovered. You’ll be hearing from me,” and then Jegit left the training room.

  Narmer made his way from the training section. Jegit had used a general training room for their work. He didn’t want anyone to see Narmer in sections of the ship that would make anyone suspicious. For anyone watching, Narmer was getting the greenie training about life aboard the Heeta.

  Heading down the now familiar passage to the galley, he went in, looking for something to nibble on, he wasn’t all that hungry.

  Rummaging through the options, he decided on some fruit and a mug of gaberry. He looked for an out of the way table. Seeing one, he took his selections he worked his way to an empty table on the periphery and sat down.

  He tried Deides again, but still no answer. He noticed someone close and looked up. It was Marda.

  “Do you mind if I join you?” she asked.

  “Not at all. I’m just trying to come down off this hectic ria. How about you?” he responded.

  “Mine was fairly normal finally. We are cruising on time and on target for our insertion orbit of Chon-su. Pretty quiet actually. Which is good!”

  “Mine was very different, and not quiet, but I can’t tell you about it.”

  Laughing, Marda replied, “I suppose not!”

  They started to talk about themselves a little, sharing parts of their past, but not getting too deep. Both wary of the security requirements. Before they realized it, a couple of chirps had passed.

  “I guess I needed the company,” Narmer said, “but I suppose I need to get back. Still looking for Deides.”

  “I am sorry about that, I’m sure that it is frustrating,” she offered.

  “I’m new to the joining, and yes, it’s frustrating. But thanks for the time. I really appreciate it.”

  Narmer got up to leave.

  “I’ve got your tray,” Marda said with a shy smile.

  “Uh, thanks!” was his snappy reply, “See you soon.”

  “Yes, I’m sure.”

  Narmer left, wondering what that was all about as he walked back to his quarters.

  ****

  Narmer entered his berth but saw no signs of Deides. He tried a vid con again, but no answer.

  He got himself cleaned up and into bed, planning to wait up for her. But after catching up on the news from Kepteyn, which was all bad, and reading up on the Prominence technical specs, he fell asleep.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  There was an annoying buzzing that was intruding on his sleep. Narmer flailed his arm about trying to find the source. Then laying on his side, he used one arm to push his body up, while listening for the source. He discovered that it was coming from above. He reached his hand above his and stuck it in the cubby above him. He searched with his one hand, digging through the compartment contents. His hand hit his p-tab, and the stopped the noise.

  Laying back down, Narmer noticed that he was alone. Deides still had not returned. Sitting up now, he reached for his p-tab, and just as he did, the buzzing started anew.

  He thumbed it on and saw that there was a vid con request from Jegit.

  “Good rise Citizen Jegit, what can I do for you?” Narmer asked.

  “Narmer, I wanted to let you know that there is a situation with Deides. We will be detaining her this rise in relation to the destruction of Nunet.”

  Stunned, Narmer replied, “I…I don’t know what to say…she’s not here if that’s why you are calling.”

  “Narmer, I know this is yet another blow that you have received over the past few rias. That’s why I’m telling you first. We know where she is. What we need you to do is to go meet her and try to get her to talk about her involvement. The people that are involved are ruthless, obviously, and there is some concern that they may harm her to prevent her testimony,” Jegit explained.

  “Wait…what? You want me to trap my spal into a confession? For something so heinous? How can I do that? Betray her so? I owe her my life. She’s the reason I’m here. She gave me a future that I had abandoned. We are just recently joined. And we are waiting to board Prominence and embark on this historic flight of our people.”

  “Now you want me to be a part of something that will cause her to be arrested? To put her in danger? Or myself? Why would I do that?” Narmer asked incredulously.

  “It is precisely because that she is in danger that you need to be involved. Only you can convince her to leave this group that she’s fallen in with. If they see any of us, we are sure that they will blame her. She’s the new member arrived before their being discovered. It won’t end well.”

  “If we get to her first, she’ll survive. She will still be incarcerated, but she will be alive. You have the best chance; you are just a spal looking for his wayward spal.”

  Narmer, still sitting in bed, was holding his head in his hands.

  “Narmer, you need hurry, this rise is about to get truly bad for a few people. Let’s get Deides and protect her.”

  “Get yourself dressed for the ria. Remember to put on your personal comms first, as you were trained to do on the prior rise. You are only to get her to talk. We will be listening and will have people around you to get you both to safety as soon as possible. As we trained: get close, get talking, get out.”

  “Narmer…Narmer…are you with me still?”

  “Yes. I understand what you want. I’m just trying to decide what lie to tell myself so that I’ll do this. I do want her safe. This is all so unbelievable. I’m looking at the countdown on my p-
tab, it says ‘2’. I cannot believe what has happened in five short rias. And now there’s more. I used to dread looking at the counter as it was the approach of pending doom. Now I can’t look at it because each new number is a just an indicator of another ria that is about to be more unreal than the last.”

  “Narmer, as much as I’d like to be philosophical about this with you, it will have to wait. We have limited time. Get moving. We will be tracking you. We can also talk to you via your personal comm. Don’t reply to us unless necessary, no need to alert anyone around you that you might be commed up.”

  “Ok, ok, I’m up…”

  ****

  Narmer, dressed in his green one-piece ship suit, walked to the pod hatch on his level with a sense of foreboding. His heart filled with dread worse that he’d had since his parents were killed all those cycles ago. Reviewing the map on his p-tab that Jegit had sent over, he couldn’t concentrate enough for it to make sense. He could see his destination highlighted on the map, but he couldn’t visualize where that was on the ship.

  His pod arrived, and Narmer entered and hooked a foot for the ride. According to his directions, he’d take this pod to the central core and then transfer to another pod. The t-pod traveled ‘up’ the transport tube towards the core. Up was relative to the effect of spin gravity.

  As the pod worked its way past the various levels, Narmer was catching glimpses of what was becoming a ‘normal’ life for other people. A normal life that he currently did not have. He was starting to feel sorry for himself again. Similar feelings that he’d had the past few cycles when he knew that he would not be selected. The irony, even being Selected, his life was in as much danger as before. Now he was walking into another dangerous situation. Only this time, he knew he was. What was he doing? “Deides!” Suddenly remembering, feeling a little ashamed.

  Narmer arrived at the core terminus of the transport tube. As the pod slowed to a stop, he could feel the lack of simulated gravity. He grabbed an overhead handhold and grabbed his way into the cavernous airlock that led to the central core. The map directed him to a passageway that ringed the core like a belt and connected all the transport tubes in this section of the ship. The passageway allowed people, cargo, and equipment to make their way from one side of the ship to the other without having to cross the core directly and its attendant airlocks and hatches.

  Grabbing his way along the passageway, he was looking at the vids that dotted the walls. They would randomly switch between various scenes showing the outside of the ship, the void around the ship, Kepteyn, and the core. He was distracted by all the activity in and around Heeta.

  “Narmer. Narmer! Can you hear me?” Jegit was almost shouting.

  “Uh, yes. I can hear you…,” he replied with a start.

  “Narmer, you need to focus on the situation. You were slow to respond. Things are going to get very serious here quickly. Your survival and that of Deides requires that you be at your best. I’m going to be talking in your ear as needed going forward, but you are not to respond to me directly. Just tap anywhere on your head or face to respond, your embedded comm earbuds will pick up the noise. Once for ‘No,’ twice for ‘Yes.’ If you need to get my attention just drum your fingers on your skull.”

  Narmer tested it out, just to get the idea. He tapped his cheekbone with an index finger. Then he did it twice. He could hear it! Now he was drumming his forehead with his fingers. “Hmmm, that’s interesting,” he said quietly to himself.

  “Yes, Narmer, we can hear you. Done playing around?” Jegit admonished.

  Narmer tapped his cheek twice.

  “Excellent. Now, you are going to exit the passageway at the next transport tube terminus. You’ll take a pod from there down towards the hull to the level that Deides is currently located.”

  After grabbing his way from the passageway to the terminus, he entered the waiting pod as indicated by his map. The pod began its trip back down the transport tube.

  “There are two main objectives here. Get her to leave with you and get her to tell you what she knows. I’ll be able to hear the entire conversation, and I’ll be able to feed you questions to ask her to get us what we need.”

  After a relatively short time, the pod began to slow in anticipation of stopping.

  “This is the control area for the Logistics Section. This is where Deides was working during the Nunet rescue mission. They have their offices and meeting rooms here. Deides is in one of the meeting rooms. From what we can tell, she is not alone. I’ll have you wait until I can get her by herself. There is an open-plan office area across from that meeting room. From the security vids, I can see an open unit, go sit in there until I let you know it is clear.”

  Narmer was going to ask how he’d get her alone but remembered that he couldn’t speak to Jegit directly. He walked down the passageway to the meeting room and turning to look off to the side; he saw the office space. Looking around to see if anyone was watching, he headed for the unoccupied office cube. He sat in the chair, his heart pounding.

  Someone opened the meeting room door, “I’ll be back as soon as I can find out what this is about,” he heard a man say. He knew that voice, the other voice in the hygiene station. The one giving orders to ‘Growly’! He heard him walking quickly down the passageway.

  “Narmer, I’ve had Altern Bebk Fees-San called away, Deides is alone. Go to her. Do not stand up and look around. That’s too obvious. Just get up, walk to the meeting room door like you are supposed to be going there. A purposeful walk is a perfect way to conceal yourself; no one would want to interrupt someone that’s obviously headed somewhere.”

  Narmer, following Jegit’s direction, stood up and walked directly to the meeting room door without glancing in any direction. No matter how much he wanted to.

  He opened the door quickly and saw Deides sitting at a small table off to the side of the main table. She looked up, and locked eyes with Narmer has he closed the door behind him.

  “What the tikt are you doing here?” she demanded, rising from her chair, her eyes angry.

  “I could ask you the same thing. When you didn’t come to our room last night, and you weren’t responding to my calls, I had to do something.”

  “How did you find me?”

  “Uh…”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  “Tell her that you knew what Section she had been assigned to earlier and decided to start there. You saw her when the Altern left the room.” Jegit directed.

  “I knew where you had been assigned and started there. I saw you in here when the Altern left.”

  “Tikt, now you decide to become intelligent,” she sneered, “you must leave now. I’ll call you to meet up later, and I’ll explain.”

  Walking closer he said, “Leave? I’m not leaving you here. Let’s go talk about this somewhere a little more private.”

  “Narmer, I said that you must leave, and you must do so now.”

  “Why? What’s the hurry?”

  Looking up, her eyes changed. Sighing she said, “Narmer. I can no longer be with you. It was never going to be. I am now with whom I was meant for. This has been in the works for some time.”

  “What? We were just joined three short, hectic rias ago!”

  “That was Jegit’s idea. He was investigating Woodam’s murder, and he had suspicions that you were being set up for the murder. After it became clear that you weren’t involved, Jegit suggested to me that we join. He felt that after being caught up in all of this, that the least that he could do was get you as a Selected.”

  “Caught up in what? How much more does one need to be caught up in other than the end of our world?”

  “Unfortunately, it is one of the oldest stories. I met someone that I wanted to be with, who was not my spal.”

  “You told me that you were happily joined to Woodam and you were totally surprised when he decided to leave you for Pagoy,” Narmer countered.

  “I was not happily joined. I had my dalliances as did Woodam. B
ut we generally agreed that we would remain joined regardless. I knew about Pagoy. What I didn’t know was that he was going to LEAVE me on Kepteyn. That was NOT going to happen.”

  “You killed him?”

  Deides laughed, “No! Well, not directly.”

  Stunned, Narmer could only stare.

  “Don’t look so surprised. It is the End.Of.The.World. I wasn’t going to stick around for it. Woodam didn’t deserve to board Prominence. He had blackmailed his way into being Selected. He was the type of people that we had to prevent from going on this journey. A chance for our people to be reborn. A better, more enlightened people. We lived only for the current rise; we were not growing as we should. Now we can. A purer, more deserving race.”

  “What the tikt are you talking about? You sound like some of the death cults that are preaching how we deserved this. That Muzan was our retribution.”

  “I’m talking about the Keepers of the Light. I don’t know that we deserved this, but we can take advantage of this to elevate our race.”

  “You’re doing just fine, ask about the Keeper’s of the Light,” Jegit said via the comm.

  “The Keeper’s of the Light?”

  “That’s what they call themselves. They are honor bound to keep the light of our people alive through the darkest of times. They’ve been around for generations of cycles. But during the Selection period, they grew and became integral parts of our society, the Council, the schools, the Guard. They have key positions now in Project Pilgrim. The only real place they don’t have a major presence is on Vanguard. The people selected for Vanguard were the exact sickness that we need to eliminate from our race. They are the cause of strife and discord in our world. Their power, their opulence, their ideals left most of the rest of the world behind.”